


I Dare You

by Full_Moon_Lover



Series: 25 Days of Christmas 2017 [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Dare, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 06:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12906168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Full_Moon_Lover/pseuds/Full_Moon_Lover
Summary: “I’m egging your house for a dare but you parent is a cop and they’re yelling at me so I told them that you were my ex and you wronged me but now you’re coming outside and please go along with this, I don’t want to go to jail.”





	I Dare You

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3! We’re now in full swing of the 25 Days of Christmas!

"I hate you so much." 

Dan was so done with Phil and his group of friends. He was tired of the same thing happening everyday. 

He got to school, tried to get to class and was interrupted by Phil and the rest who tried their best to make his life miserable. 

Sometimes they tried to steal his homework, other times they enjoyed tripping him to see all his books and notes fly out of his hands. Nothing gave them joy like seeing him walk into class late and being glared at by the teacher. 

Why was being smart seen as something that needed to be punished? 

Dan had done nothing to them. In fact, he always did his best to be friendly, even on days where he was in a bad mood. He liked thinking that everyone could go through hard times and if being nice made someone's day a little better, it was good enough for him. 

Everything was going well for him until a new student started attending their school. 

Phil Lester. 

Phil became known as the rebel of the school. He never did his homework, he missed classes and never wore his uniform properly. It wasn't hard to understand why he was one of the most popular students. 

Dan was different. He didn't consider himself to be a stickler to the rules, but he didn't go out of his way to break them. But what caused him to stand out to Phil and his friends, were his grades. 

He was considered one of the smartest kids at school. Dan got good grades, and the teachers praised his work. 

Instead of being impressed by this, Phil used it as an excuse to pick on him. What started as a few taunts now and then, turned into insults and attempts at ruining Dan's good grades. 

It wasn't long before Phil ruined Dan's idea of treating everyone well so they would do the same to him. He didn't want to fall down to their level but, after the third time of showing up to class without homework, Dan lost it.

"You think you're so great, insulting me and trying to steal my work. Just admit you're jealous. You want to see me fail because you're jealous of how well I'm doing while your grades keep dropping." 

Phil’s smirk was wiped off his face; it was the wrong thing to say. “And you think you’re so smart Howell, don’t you? You think you’re all that because you get good grades. I’d rather fail all my classes than have no friends like you.” 

There interactions only went downhill after that. 

Phil was not the only one throwing insults around. Dan gave as good as he got and their rivalry soon became known throughout the whole school. 

“Howell, I heard the teacher refused to let you in class fifteen minutes late. Too busy crawling on the floor after your notes?” 

“I’ve heard rumours you failed yet another test Lester. Are you sure you don’t want to take me up on my offer of some free tutoring?” 

Their animosity only kept on growing. 

Phil’s friends knew how much he hated Dan Howell. They also knew that he never turned down a dare. So during a game of truth or dare, they came up with the perfect dare to rile up the rebel of the school. 

“Phil, truth or dare? PJ asked. 

“Dare.” In all the truth it dare games he had ever played, Phil never chose truth. For him, truth was for cowards. He wouldn’t be much of a rebel if he didn’t show he was scared of nothing. 

PJ smirked, already having expected his answer. “I dare you to egg Dan Howell’s house.” 

Phil was left to stare at him, speechless. 

All their other friends were laughing and whistling. Phil Lester having to egg his rival’s house? It was like Christmas came early. 

“You’re kidding right?” he asked, bewildered. Phil couldn’t care less about Dan Howell and he would be honored to be the one to egg his house but he wasn’t stupid. 

This wasn’t some harmless fun. If he got caught, there could he some serious repercussions and Phil was doubting whether winning a dare was worth such a risk. 

He shouldn’t do it. Phil should refuse to carry out the dare and carry on with the rest of the game. But he couldn’t. Word of him refusing would spread around their school and his reputation would suffer. He couldn’t let that happen. 

“Fine,” he said, standing up. “Let’s go teach Howell a lesson.”

*

Standing in front of Dan Howell’s house with two cartons of eggs in his hand, Phil was having second thoughts. If he was caught and recognized, there would be hell to pay. 

All his friends stayed at PJ’s house, not wanting to risk getting in trouble with Phil if he got caught. He was supposed to send them a photo of the done deed so they would know he wasn’t lying. 

Phil was all alone.

He imagined the look on Dan’s face at finding his front door covered with eggs and smirked. If all went well, it would be worth it. 

Opening the first carton, he got out two eggs. He needed to be fast and ready to make a quick getaway if he saw anyone coming outside. 

Throwing the first egg filled him with satisfaction and got rid of all his hesitation. 

He stopped worrying over the possibility of getting caught and instead focused on getting the job done. It was time to show Howell what happened when you went against Phil. 

He should have known that getting cocky would get him in trouble. 

Just as he was about to open the second and last carton, he heard a voice coming from behind him. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” 

Phil turned around and froze when he saw a woman wearing the police woman looking at him with a glare. Shit. He was in for it now. 

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t arrest you right now for throwing eggs at my door young man.”

Phil could only gape at her in shock. Dan’s mother was a cop? He was going to end up arrested because he was incapable of refusing a dare. 

As much of a rebel as he was in school, he was still terrified over going to jail. His mum would have to pay bail to get him out and then he’d never be allowed to leave home again. 

Phil needed to come up with a decent excuse, and fast. But how does one explain throwing eggs at a house without sounding idiotic?

“I’m Dan’s ex”, he blurted out in a panic. "Dan broke up with me to date my best friend and I wanted to get back at him. I'm sorry." 

He saw Dan's mum face soften and Phil felt relief flood him. If he kept this up, he might just get through this without getting thrown in jail. 

Then Dan walked out of the house. 

Phil could only stare in horror as his rival looked at the front door covered in eggs and then towards his mum who was looking at him in disappointment. She must have believed Phil's story. 

"Daniel Howell, I raised you better than this. Breaking up with your boyfriend to date his best friend? A boyfriend you never even told me about." 

Phil was already thinking of what would happen to him when Dan told his mum that was not what happened at all. 

"Please go along with this, I don't want to go to jail," Phil mouthed when Dan caught his eye. It was worth a try, but he wasn't hopeful his rival would cover for him. 

Dan surprised him by sighing and giving his mum a guilty look. "Sorry mum, I shouldn't have done that."

Phil couldn't believe what was going on. Dan Howell, the guy who hated his guts, just took the blame to help him. What was going on? 

Dan's mum sighed and shook her head. "I'm too worn out to deal with this," she said. "I won't press any charges of vandalising private property but tomorrow morning you're both going to be cleaning the front door." 

She walked inside, leaving Dan and Phil standing outside by themselves. 

"You owe me one Lester," Dan said, before following his mum inside. 

*

The next day, Dan was up bright and early at his mum's orders. Him and Phil were supposed to clean the front door which was still covered in eggs. 

Dan walked outside and was surprised to see Phil already waiting for him. He handed him a sponge, and they started scrubbing the door, not exchanging a single word. 

Phil was the one to break the silence. "Why did you cover for me?" 

Dan sighed, unsure whether he should stick with the truth or make something up. "I only did it so you'd owe me a favour so don't go getting any funny ideas." 

Dan had felt sorry for him when he saw his mum yelling at Phil the previous night. He was pissed his rival had dared to egg his house but he didn't want to see him in jail for that either. 

Regardless of that, Dan was still planning on taking advantage of the situation. His mum was still pissed at him for having acted so rudely towards his 'ex boyfriend'. The least he deserved was to get something out of it. 

"I'll make you a deal," he said, turning to look at Phil. "I'll keep covering for you with my mum but you and your friends have to stop giving me a hard time at school." 

"Absolutely not." 

Dan had been expecting his reaction, and shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'll just go tell my mum the story you told her last night was complete bullshit. I promise to visit you in jail." 

He knew he won when he saw the glare Phil directed at him. "Just remember, you brought this on yourself. The second you or your little friends try anything at school, I'm telling my mum." 

Dan didn't care if it made him sound like a tattle tale. He was done being made fun of and ridiculed. He was sure his mum wouldn't put him in jail for throwing a few eggs at their door but Phil didn't need to know that.

"Fine," Phil snapped, not even looking at him. "I'll talk to the others and see what I can do." 

*

A week after the egging incident, Dan could say his plan was working better than expected.

Phil's friends were avoiding him like the plague and Phil himself kept his promise and stopped picking on him. He got close to insulting him a few times and the sight of him biting his tongue to keep silent never failed to amuse Dan. 

Word of what happened got around and the other students at their school were quick to discuss how Dan's mum scared Phil so much he was now playing nice. Dan could see Phil tense up whenever he heard them and grinned. It was nice to see Phil getting a taste of his own medicine. 

It all came to an end at lunch a few days later. 

"I didn't know Dan Howell's cop was a mum." 

"Apparently she threatened to get Phil expelled. He must have be terrified of her considering he isn't even talking to Howell anymore." 

The rumours kept circulating around their school and Phil could feel himself reaching his limit. How had he gone from being the rebel of school to being the laughing stock? 

"Not so fun when you're the one being picked on, is it?"

Phil whirled around to see Dan standing behind him, smirk on his face. He was clearly enjoying himself. 

"Come to gloat Howell?" 

"I considered it," Dan admitted. "But you're looking like a kicked puppy, so I figured I could cut you some slack. Come on, let's go to the library. There aren't many people there and you can have a peaceful lunch." 

Phil followed him to the library but he couldn't help feeling suspicious. "Why do you keep helping me?"

"I've already told you," Dan said, rolling his eyes. "Contrary to you Lester, I don't make it a habit to bring people down when they're already feeling like shit. It's called being nice, you should try it sometime." 

Phil felt guilt settle in his stomach and frowned. He never felt guilty. Sure, he was aware he was being mean when he picked on Dan and insulted him, but he never felt guilty. 

Something had changed. Dan covered for him with his mum and now he was attempting to be nice to him because he was going through a hard time. Even with everything Phil had done to him, he was still choosing to be the bigger person.

Phil was impressed. He didn't think he could do the same towards a person who treated him in the way he treated Dan. He wouldn't cover for them and he most definitely wouldn't share a safe space to spend lunch at. 

They both settled at an empty table in the library. Dan got out a book to read to pass the time and Phil just rested his head against his hands. 

"I'm sorry," Phil mumbled, almost hoping Dan wouldn't hear him. 

Luck wasn't on his side. "What was that?" 

Was he really going to make Phil say it again? "I said I'm sorry. I treated you like shit for no reason other than being jealous over how smart you were without even trying. Yet here you are being nice regardless of that."

"Apology accepted," Dan said with a shrug. "I'm not innocent though. I gave back as good as I got and I used the situation with my mum to my advantage." 

He wasn't wrong, but Phil still appreciated it. Dan used the situation to his advantage, but he still covered for him and his mum was unaware Phil wasn't his ex boyfriend. Few people would have done that. 

"Does that mean I was right and you are jealous?" Dan said, grinning cheekily. 

Phil scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Maybe. Let's say that me failing a lot of my classes weren't just rumours." 

"I could tutor you, if you want?" Dan offered, hesitantly. He was scared this was just another one of Phil's ploys to embarrass him in front of everyone. But Phil looked genuine enough and Dan couldn't stand by and do nothing while another student failed their classes. 

Phil seemed just as surprised over his offer. "You're being serious?" 

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't. But I'll only tutor you if you promise to take it seriously. I will not waste my time if you'll just joke around." 

Dan wanted to help and he would make sure Phil's marks improve but only if the other was willing to work on it. 

"Fine, I'll try my best," Phil promised. 

They had gone from being at each other's throats to apologising and talking civilly so Phil was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. He liked how things were changing though and was determined to keep it that way. "I'll even take you out for a nice lunch as a thank you for your help."

*

No one was surprised to see Dan and Phil walking into the school holding hands a month later.

**Author's Note:**

> The ending is a little rushed, I’m aware of that. I finished the fic at 3 in the morning and to be honest I wasn’t sure how to finish it off without turning it in a 7k word oneshot. Hopefully you still enjoyed it! Don’t forget to let me know what you think. Day 4 will be something a little more Christmas-sy.


End file.
